Patience is a Virtue
by pigtheowl
Summary: There were werewolves, and then there was Remus. Wolfstar oneshot.


**First part before the asteriscs is from Sirius' POV. After the asteriscs is Remus'.**

 **Obviously I don't own these characters. Any of them, because I don't publish the ones with my OCs. They all belong to the wonderful and terrible Joanne Rowling, our queen and savior.**

 **Here goes:**

There were werewolves, and then there was Remus.

In their first year, Sirius, James, and Peter had woken up to Remus, screaming and thrashing about in bed, yelling like they had heard nobody yell before, "don'ttouchmedon'ttouchmedon'ttouchme," and they had presumed it was rape, maybe? And then second year came around and they knew something was up with him; his mother couldn't be sick _every_ month, and if she was sick, why did he also look like hell?; and they just had to confront him.

Fourth year rolled around, and James had, Sirius thought, the only good idea he'd ever had; they would turn into an animagus during the full moon and go with Remus to the Shrieking Shack.

Remus disagreed violently, of course; "I'll hurt you," he had said, "You'll do something rash and I'll kill you. Or worse, turn you into…" he had gone quiet, looking at the ground, but he didn't need to complete his sentence for Peter, James, and Sirius to know what he meant.

James and Sirius, never one for following the rules, had decided that they would keep that (goddamn) mandrake leaf in their mouth for that one (goddamn) month, and Peter, always the follower (the little rat), had decided he would join them.

So it was now, crouched behind a cupboard in the Shrieking Shack, that Sirius witnessed, as Padfoot, what transforming into a werewolf really was.

It was painful. Remus howled as he began his transformation into Moony, his bones elongating and his teeth sharpening and growing and bursting from his clothes like that bloody Muggle superhero he had overheard Lily talking to Remus about. Fur sprouted from Remus' chest, from his arms, from his legs, from his head, and his pupils widened and swallowed his eyes completely, and suddenly he wasn't Remus at all, but the monster from Remus' nightmares.

Sirius, James, and Peter's transformations were much easier and painless; Sirius almost wished it was like Remus'; full of hurting and howling and unwillingness, just to ease Moony's pain; but alas, it was not, and Sirius, after practicing to be an animagi, would often find himself in his dog form, having transformed unwittingly.

Prongs lightly butted Padfoot's rear end with one of his antlers, telling him to go ahead, to comfort Moony. Padfoot warily eyed Moony, then stepped out into the ray of moonlight streaming into the Shrieking Shack, right in front of the wolf.

Moony howled, moving forward, advancing on Padfoot. Sirius felt himself breathing slightly faster, panting. However, he stayed his ground in front of his boyfriend the werewolf.

Behind him, Padfoot sensed Prongs moving closer in the shadows, Wormtail scrabbling a bit behind him. _Cowards_.

Moony moved closer, and Padfoot shut his eyes, and everything was completely still, and Padfoot could feel Moony breathing in his face, and then James was shouting "Run!" And he did, because Moony was right behind him on his tail (literally) and it hadn't worked, it hadn't worked the first time, Moony was going to eat him alive, and he had to run.

"Goddamn," Sirius said, once safely inside the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, back as his regular, human self. "Goddamn."

"Preach," James said, panting. "He almost ate you, Pads. You were almost -"

"It wasn't his fault," Sirius cut in, and Peter looked up, shaking. "He wasn't in control."

Remus stumbled into the dorm at 5:00 in the morning, looking like absolute hell, shirt buttoned awkwardly and trousers unzipped, hair ruffled, scratches everywhere, pale as the full moon from the night before.

Remus leaned against the wall for support, looking miserable, weak and barely awake. It nearly broke Sirius' heart.

Sirius jumped out of bed and latched an arm around his boyfriend, supporting him. Remus winced.

"Sorry," Sirius whispered, careful not to wake the others. "Did I touch a cut?"

"'M all right," Remus mumbled. "M'dam Pomfrey did th' best she could."

"You twat," Sirius whispered. "Let me see."

Remus looked at Sirius, and suddenly he looked much more awake.

"Wha' happened, Sirius?"

"What do you mean, Moons?"

"Your cheek -"

Sirius touched his cheek with his free hand. An area of his cheek was raised, jagged. He supposed Remus had scratched him the night before. It had been so wild, he wasn't suprised he hadn't noticed it before.

"Don't worry about it, Rem," Sirius said, now painfully aware of the tingling in his cheek. "Let me help you to bed."

"Padfoo' -"

"Not that, you twat. To sleep."

Remus, too tired to protest, let Sirius help him into bed. Sirius lifted up the young werewolf's pajama shirt to reveal a crisscross of scars and new cuts, making a sort of map across his torso.

"Bloody hell, Remus. I'm sorry. Is there anything else?"

But the young werewolf was already fast asleep.

The morning after was always the worst part.

Remus was aware, he was painfully aware and he was aware of the pain and the pounding in his head.

Remus sat up and immediately regretted doing so. He winced and flopped back down, feeling his bruises and scars more than ever.

But he didn't flop back down on sheets and a matress; he flopped down on a warm body and a slight _umph, Remus, geroff_.

Remus moved his cold body off of Sirius's warm one.

"Sorry, Sirius," he mumbled, his tongue thick with exhaustion.

Sirius opened his eyes slightly and saw Remus, seemed to remember it was the day after the full, and his expression softened a bit.  
"Hi," Sirius said softly, nuzzling his face into Remus' shirt gently. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Remus said, lying through his teeth. Sirius gave him a glare, and Remus sighed. "Like shit, okay, but it's all relative."

"Yeah, maybe, but it doesn't change the fact that you feel 'like shit', Remus. Are you going to go to class today?"

Remus considered it. He didn't want to snooze off in the middle of Potions class and receive the pitious glances from Lily as Slughorn berated him, but Flitwick _had_ told him they were to be doing the Summoning Charm today, and he _didn't_ want to miss that, he really didn't.

"Yeah, I suppose," he said, and Sirius gave him another look.

"You sure, Rem? You look like hell."

"You're so kind," Remus replied sarcastically, and was met by sunlight shining in his face.

"Oi, lovebirds! Breakfast!" James called, pulling the curtain aside. Sirius shook his head.

"Patience, Jamesie, it's a virtue!" Sirius called back, and received a pillow in the jaw.

Remus sat up, his back creaking and feeling more like an old man, and turned to face Sirius, noticing for the first time the cut across the other boy's cheek.

"Sirius," he said, sure his mouth was dropping in shock, "Did I hurt you last night?"

"What?" Said Sirius, touching his cheek. "Oh - that. Don't worry about it, Moons, it's -"

"No, Sirius, I am worried, and I have every right to be! Did I hurt you last night? Is that why you weren't there?"

James had turned around from the sink, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth.

"It'sh nuffing, Moony. He'sh fine," he said through the toothbrush.

"No, he is bloody well not fine!" Remus protested, and felt worry, guilt, anger coursing through his veins. "I hurt Sirius! That's not fine, Prongs!"

"Am I dead, Moony?" Sirius asked, and Remus rolled his eyes.

"That's not the point, Pads. I _could_ kill you next time, or the time after that, if you don't stop being so foolish and give up the bloody animagus idea!"

"It takes time, Remus," Sirius said, and Remus sighed and stood up, swaying. Sirius caught him by the waist, bounding to his feet like an excited puppy.

"Yeah," Peter mumbled, and they looked to him in surprise. They hadn't even been aware he was awake.

"Patience is a virtue, Moony," James said again, putting his toothbrush back in its holder.

"And that applies to your recovery, too, you absolute wanker," Sirius said, laying Remus back down on the bed. When Remus began to protest, Sirius cut him off, saying, "I'll let McGonagall know, she's sure to understand. And Peter'll take notes for you, won't you, Peter?" He said, looking pointedly towards the chubby boy at the end of the room, wrapped in a Gryffindor-red bedsheet.

"Mm," Peter replied, shuffing over to the bathroom. "Sure, Remus. Anything for you, I suppose."

"See?" Sirius turned towards Remus with a grin on his face, a grin Remus found endearing and annoying in one, a grin Remus rather wanted to punch off of Sirius' stupid handsome face. "Patience, Remus. Look it up while we're gone." There was a dictionary thrown at him.

Remus looked up _Patience_ in the dictionary while they were gone.

He decided he didn't much like the meaning.


End file.
